RE: TC Sparks and Arcs (Was - High Voltage Snubber caps

["John H. Couture" <couturejh-at-worldnet.att-dot-net> (by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-uswest-dot-net>)]

Christopher -

I was thinking of the space between the stars not the local space or
atmospheres near stars or planets. I understand there is only about one
hydrogen atom per cubic meter in the space between the stars. Not very much
to be ionized by a voltage to create a spark and maintain an arc.

As I understand the spark from the secondary terminal of a Tesla coil there
must first be an electric field strength around the terminal that is
sufficient to ionize the air atoms and initiate a spark (high voltage) which
in turn creates a current path that makes an arc (low voltage) possible.
This means the spark starts the process and the arc continues the process.
The ionization is a random process with more opportunity to make side shifts
and this is the reason that the spark has a jagged form unless it is a
controlled spark.

The voltage necessary to initiate a spark is determined by the distance from
the terminal to the ground. I believe it should be called a spark instead of
an arc because the spark length and voltage are related. This is not true
for the arc which is a low voltage and current phenomenom regardless of the
spark length.

An arc is started by touching two energized electrodes together and then
separating them slightly as with arc welding, arc furnaces, and arc lamps.
In this way a plasma is created between the electrodes to form a conductor
for the arc current. This is not the way a Tesla coil works.

John Couture

--------------------------


-----Original Message-----
From: Tesla list [mailto:tesla-at-pupman-dot-com]
Sent: Saturday, August 05, 2000 6:26 PM
To: tesla-at-pupman-dot-com
Subject: RE: TC Sparks and Arcs (Was - High Voltage Snubber caps


Original poster: "Christopher Boden" <chrisboden-at-hotmail-dot-com>

What about the atmospheric mixtures of other planets?

Christopher A. Boden Geek#1
President / Founder
The Geek Group
www.geekgroup-dot-org
Because the Geek shall inherit the Earth!

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